Digital Arrest Frauds: Supreme Court Proposes Transferring Cases To CBI For Effective Investigation

The Supreme Court of India has sounded an alert on the rising number of digital arrest scams. On October 17, 2025, the Court took suo motu cognisance of digital arrest fraud cases after receiving a letter from an elderly couple based in Ambala, Haryana, who were defrauded of Rs 1.05 crore. They had fallen prey to the trick of impersonating police and judicial officers who used forged court orders to coerce the seniors and extort money from them. In today’s (October 27, 2025) hearing of the case ‘In Re: Victims of Digital Arrest Related to Forged Documents’, the apex court directed all the States and Union Territories (UTs) to furnish details of the digital arrest cases filed in their jurisdiction.

The bench, comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, expressed their profound concerns over growing instances of such scams where fraudsters impersonate government and judicial officers. It also noted possibility of pan-India or across-the-border activities by such fraudsters to emphasise the severity and scale of these scams.

The Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the Union of India, also indicated international human trafficking, saying that people are called to work abroad and once they arrive, their passports are seized. They are forced to generate funds online to pay off the money spent on their travel. This makes these individuals work almost as “slaves”, per a report by Live Law.

The Attorney General for India, R Venkataramani, also reinforced the concerns about the scale of these frauds. He informed the Court that money laundering networks behind these frauds are likely based outside India, in countries such as Myanmar and Thailand.

Acknowledging the vast scale of such crimes and observing the current system, where such cases are fragmented across state jurisdictions, the Court proposed an investigation into these cases by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It sought clarification from the Centre and the CBI about their capability in terms of human and technical resources to handle a large volume of such cases, if transferred to them. Mehta assured me that CBI would receive assistance from the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Cyber Crime Division, which has technical experts.

The State of Haryana, which had been served notice initially by the Court in the senior couple’s case, confirmed no objection to transferring the two FIRs to CBI for further investigation.

The Court asked all the States and UTs to submit all FIRs related to digital arrest scams registered within their jurisdiction. Once the states’ responses are received, the Court will review the matter.

Notably, per a written reply in Rajya Sabha on March 12, 2025, by Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, more than 7.81 lakh SIM cards and 2,08,469 international mobile equipment identity (IMEIs) have been blocked by the government as of February 28, 2025. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has also blocked over 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts for digital arrest scams.